Product category:
Motors and Variable speed drives
News Release from: ABB Automation Tech (Drives and Motors) | Subject: Record breaking electric car
Edited by the Processingtalk Editorial
Team on 06 August 2003
Record breaking electric car to go the
distance
ABB has found a novel way to put its drives and motors to the ultimate test by providing the main drive system for the British challenger to to the world electric land speed record
with ABB; ABB has found a novel way to put its drives and motors to the ultimate test by providing the main drive system for the British challenger to the world electric land speed record Comprising an inverter from the ABB ACS 800 range and two 40 kW IP23 through-ventilated AC motors, the ABB system will enable the e=motion electric car to travel at over 300 mph, well in excess of the top speed of a Formula One car
This article was originally published on Processingtalk on 31 May 2004 at 8.00am (UK)
Related stories
Data for over 500 motors now available online
Motor performance curves, data sheets and drawings for low voltage AC motors, from 0.055 to 710 kW, are now available from the ABB website: data for more than 500 motors to be downloaded or viewed
High voltage motors are standardised for OEMs
A new range of standard high voltage induction motors, ready for delivery within days, has been launched by ABB: lower priced than engineered motors, these are ideal for OEMs needing standard product
Producing a combined output of more than 500bhp, the two motors have already helped propel the e=motion car to 146 mph during testing.
This unofficially broke the 139 mph UK record for the fastest speed travelled by an electric vehicle.
The car is due to be transported to Tunisia in September where it will be used by the vehicle designers, Mark Newby and Colin Fallows, to attempt to set the new world electric land speed record.
Further reading
ABB becomes preferred supplier for Imerys Minerals
Aiming to save downtime costs of up to GBP10,000 per hour, Imerys Minerals in Cornwall has entered an agreement with ABB to supply motors and drives to its UK plants
Guide to ATEX 137 dos and don'ts
"ATEX 137 dos and don'ts" is a step-by-step guide to the responsibilities of end users operating motors in potentially explosive atmospheres
Savings from PID control on variable speed drives
Steel wheel maker, Magnetto-Topy is achieving unprecedented energy savings by applying closed loop control to an existing variable speed drive installation on water cooling flow control
The current world record of 247 mph is held by a team from the USA.
The ABB system uses the drive to convert the 600V DC output from the car's four packs of lead acid batteries into AC power for the two motors.
The designers initially approached two ABB key competitors.
"Of the companies we originally approached, none could provide either the technology or expertise that justified a world record attempt of this magnitude," says Mark Newby, the car's driver.
"In fact, one suggested water cooled drive solution resulted in us extending the nose of the vehicle by some 1.5 metres, at great expense".
"The ABB solution is extremely compact and means our car does not even need to be the 10 metres that it is!".
To qualify as an official world record, the car must perform two runs at better than 252 mph over a distance of one kilometre, requiring the motors to reach speeds in excess of 6,000 rpm.
To achieve this, ABB has supplied induction motors capable of operating at speeds of between 5,000 and 9,000 rpm.
To prevent overheating, each motor has been adapted to include a force ventilation system comprising a 24V DC fan, which will be used to cool the motors to ensure they do not exceed their maximum operating temperature of 180C.
PT100 sensors fitted to each motor winding provide real-time information about the motor operating temperature and also serve to protect the motors from overheating.
The high power-to-weight ratio of the motors, coupled with ABB Direct Torque Control (DTC) drive technology, provides excellent control of motor torque, with full motor torque available even at zero speed.
This enables the car to accelerate faster to its record breaking speed.
The drive system developed for the e=motion car is the work of members of the ABB drives application engineering team, Frank Griffith, Steve Malpass and John Schofield.
The team has worked closely with the e=motion engineers since November 2002.
Developing the system involved a number of challenges, including the simulation of the vehicle dynamics and performance likely to be experienced during the land speed record attempt.
"We had to develop our system without initially being able to physically test the car on a track," says Frank Griffith, consultant engineer.
"This meant we had to model and calculate likely performance based on a set of estimated conditions involving factors such as rolling resistance, drag and battery discharge rate.
Much of this information was extrapolated from data found on the Internet.
Not only that, but we only had a limited amount of space available for installing our system in the car, so we had to ensure that whatever we came up with was also compact".
To help tune the performance of the system, ABB is using data from the two independent four-channel data loggers incorporated within the drive.
During recent testing performed at the Bruntingthorpe airstrip in Leicestershire, the data loggers have been extensively used to collect a range of data on drive and motor status, which is uploaded to a PC using ABB Drives Window tool.
Once in the PC, the car performance data can be displayed graphically or exported if preferred.
"The data loggers allow us to improve the performance of our system in the same way as Formula One teams do with their cars," explains Steve Malpass, application engineer.
"One of the data loggers is set to a rapid sampling rate of 1 sample per millisecond, which records all the actual events as they happen.
The other logger, which is set to a slower rate, is used to record information on trends that occur throughout the duration of the tests being carried out, which gives us an overall picture of how the car is faring".
"We initially approached ABB, via a mutual colleague, because we were aware of its profile in the world of electrical engineering," says Colin Fallows, the designer of the e=motion car.
"Throughout the development of the car, we have constantly been able to call upon the ABB vast expertise and have been unbelievably impressed by what Frank, Steve and John have come up with.
Based on what we've seen so far, we are 100% confident that ABB will be joining us in the record books when we break the world speed record".
• ABB Automation Tech (Drives and Motors): contact details and other news
• Email this article to a colleague
• Register for the free Processingtalk email newsletter
• Processingtalk Home Page
Search the Pro-Talk network of sites
